MTSU centers to help execute $25,000 federal grant to study LGBTQ+ history

MTSU’s Center for Historic Preservation and Albert Gore Research Center will play vital roles in helping to document the area’s LGBTQ+ history.

The National Trust for Historic Preservation announced April 7 that two organizations, Nashville Sites and Nashville Queer History, are recipients of a $25,000 grant to chronicle the legacy of the LGBTQ+ community in Nashville and Middle Tennessee.

Sarah E. Calise, archivist, Political and Regional Collections, Albert Gore Research Center at MTSU

Sarah Calise

Vanderbilt University Libraries, the Just Us at Oasis Center and the Nashville LGBT Chamber of Commerce join the CHP and the Gore Center as partners in implementing the grant.

A community partner of the Center for Historic Preservation, Nashville Queer History is a group that strives to research and share the LGBTQ+ history of Nashville and Middle Tennessee.

This photo was taken at a gay pride festival in Nashville in the early 1990s. It is part of the Albert Gore Research Center’s LGBTQ+ archives. (Photo courtesy of Albert Gore Research Center)

Sarah Calise, an archivist with the Gore Center and founder of Nashville Queer History, said the organization originally began with the LGBTQ+ collections the Gore Center has acquired since 2015.

“Being only one of two Tennessee projects chosen for the grant is a great honor, and it shows that documentation of queer history is much needed in our state,” Calise said. “I am excited to collaborate with Middle Tennessee archives, libraries and nonprofits to expand NQH’s resources and to build something for the greater good.”

Nashville Sites is a nonprofit organization funded by the Metropolitan Historical Commission Foundation. It combines scholarly research with historic sites to create walking, driving and virtual tours of important historical venues in Metro Nashville.

“The federal grant is one of 80 given to select organizations nationwide with projects that help preserve, interpret and activate historic places to tell the stories of underrepresented groups in our nation,” according to a Nashville Sites statement.

For more information, go to www.nashvillesites.org or www.nashvillequeerhistory.org or contact Calise at sarah.calise@mtsu.edu.

— Gina K. Logue (gina.logue@mtsu.edu)

Bianca Paige, a drag queen who raised more than $1 million for HIV and AIDS research, rides atop a pink elephant in a gay pride parade in Nashville in the early 1990s. The photo is part of the Albert Gore Research Center’s LGBTQ+ archives. (Photo courtesy of Albert Gore Research Center)